Factors Affecting The Farmer's Participation in Maintenance of Covered Irrigation Canalsin Guilan Province of Iran

This study aimed at evaluating the participation of farmers in maintenance of covered irrigation canals in Guilan province of Iran. The specific study objectivewas to identify factors affecting the farmer's participation in the maintenance of the irrigation canals. For this purpose, personal-professional characteristics, socio-economic statusand participation level of the farmers were studied. Questionnaire was the main tool of this research, the validity of whichwas confirmed by15 relevant experts and the reliability of which was approved through Cronbach's alpha (%75). Research population included 1203 of local farmers. Sample size was obtained by Cochran’s formula, including 133 individuals completely selected through random sampling.The results ofPearson andSpearman correlation coefficienttests showed that there was a positive and significant relationship of educational level, membership in social institutions, amount of owned land, annual income from various agricultural activitiesand involvement in service affairs for the implementation of canalsprogram with the farmers’ participation in the maintenance of covered irrigation canals at the level of 95%.